The Great Escape
by bookworm547
Summary: When Hermione is at the library after hours, she gets a warning from Dumbledore that an attacker has broken into the castle. It is up to her and another student to get themselves to safety before the attacker catches up with them. And that other student happens to be Draco Malfoy. Dramione
1. Chapter 1

"Can you please look it over?" Ron asked, practically begged. He had a potions essay due tomorrow and was sure that Snape wasn't going to think his essay was somewhat decent without Hermione's help.

After almost a half an hour of Ron's constant begging, Hermione finally gave in.

"Alright calm down. But I'm only helping you. Not doing the assignment for you." Hermione said as she tore the paper from Ron's grasp.

"Yes! Absolutely! Thanks Hermione you're the best!" Ron cheered happily as though the Chudley Cannons had just won the Quidditch World Cup.

"Could you look over mine too while you're at it? Thanks I don't know what I would do without you." Harry said thankfully. Hermione rolled her eyes at the boys as they scurried out of the library and headed off to Quidditch practice.

"You owe me!" Hermione called to the boys but she doubted they heard her. They only time those two came into the library was when they needed something from her. The library just wasn't their scene. Hermione on the other hand, loved it. No matter what mood she was in or how she was feeling, the library always had a book that she could enjoy. Whether it was a text book on Ancient Ruins or a fiction novel about a struggling witch trying to make a living in the Muggle world, books were her happy place.

She snapped out of her trance and stared at the two papers in front of her. Hermione hadn't even started her own essay, which was very unlike her. She had about five more hours before the library closed for the night and she planned to use every last minute of them. As the hours went by, people began to leave the library. There weren't that many people to begin with. After night fall at around eight o'clock, Hermione was the only student left in the library. Madam Pince was asleep in her chair. It was pretty dark. The only light in the room was coming from the lantern lit at Hermione's table.

Madam Pince awoke thirty minutes later but left without even noticing Hermione. She hadn't made nearly as much progress on the essays as she had hoped for but figured that since no one was her to scold her about being out after hours, she could stay as long as she liked. This wasn't something Hermione would do ordinarily but in her delusional state of mind, it sounded like a good idea. She started working at a faster pace, determined to get to the common room by midnight. 

"Albus! Is everything alright? Why would you summon me at such a late hour?" Professor McGonagall asked looking rather flustered. Probably from running up to Dumbledore's office after getting the distress call.

"Minerva, I'm afraid that we have a problem" Dumbledore spoke with a grave look in his eyes behind his half-moon spectacles.

McGonagall's face fell. "Is it what I think it is? This hasn't happened in almost 200 years!" She mumbled, looking almost panic-stricken.

"I'm aware Minerva. However the situation has occurred again and we must deal with it" Dumbledore spoke as calmly as he could.

"Are all the students in their common rooms?! Tell me Albus, is it true?" asked McGonagall breathing quickly.

"I'm afraid not all students are in their common rooms. It appears Hermione Granger is in the library. We're still looking to see if there are any other students on the grounds." McGonagall took a sharp breath. Dumbledore continued "And yes. There is an attacker in the castle." 

Hermione awoke wither her head in her potions book. She must have fallen asleep while working on her essay. Deciding that she should go get some sleep, Hermione began to pack up her books and quills when all of a sudden she spotted a bright light coming down the corridor at a fast pace. Hermione hid under the table immediately, afraid that one of the professors would find her. She the light came closer, she was able to recognize the shape of a phoenix and discovered what she thought was a professor was actually a patronus. When the patronus arrived in front of Hermione, it began to speak in a hushed voice.

"Miss. Granger, it pains me to tell you that there is an attacker inside the castle." Hermione gasped as the phoenix with the voice of professor Dumbledore continued. "Because you are not in your common room, you are putting yourself and others at great risk. However I cannot allow you to go to the common room because the attacker is near the Gryffindor area. So Miss. Granger you must follow my instructions carefully. As far as I know, only you and one other student are not where you should be at this hour. He is receiving the same message as you at this very moment. He is close to you and I would like you to try and find him in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. I will give you further instructions once you arrive. Good luck Miss Granger and I'm sure that you and Mr. Malfoy together will be able to get to safety." The patronus disappeared and Hermione was left standing dumbfounded.


	2. Chapter 2

Draco stared at himself in the bathroom mirror. How did he get into this situation? Why did he decide that it was a good idea to hide out in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom? He should have just went back to the common room after the Gryffindor team stole Slytherin's practice time on the quidditch pitch. Stupid Potter thinking that he can have anything he wants because he's the boy who lived. Honestly, Potter is just the boy who won't die. He ran his fingers through his pale blond hair in frustration. And now he had to meet up with bushy haired Granger to try to escape to safety. Maybe if he left the bathroom before she arrived he wouldn't have to see her. But he knew that his best chance of getting to safety was with Granger's help. Almost as if on cue, Granger walked in the bathroom.

"Malfoy." Hermione spoke in a voice of utter disgust.

"Granger." Draco replied with an equally disgusted tone.

"I just wanted to say that we should put all of our differences aside now and focus on the task at hand. You and I both know that we are the best two people to be in this situation. We are the top two in our class and we are both decent with combat skills" Hermione suggested, addressing the hate between them head on.

"I don't know about you Granger but my combat skills are more than decent. They're flawless." Draco boasted.

"Well Malfoy, I wouldn't say they're flawless but they are decent. Just like mine." Hermione teased.

"Oh please. I would beat you in a battle no matter what the circumstances." Draco argued.

"Whatever you say Malfoy." Hermione taunted as she smirked at Malfoy. "Back to the task at hand, what do you suppose we do now?" Hermione asked.

"Well did you see anyone on your walk over here?" questioned Draco.

"No. It was dead silent and there was nobody in sight." Hermione replied.

"Okay. Then we wait for further orders from Professor Dumbledore." Draco stated. The pair sat down and leaned against the wall.

"Can I just asked why you were in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom before I showed up?" asked Hermione in a slightly teasing tone.

"Because I needed to use the bathroom. Obviously Granger. What did you think I was doing?" Draco asked in a sarcastic tone.

"I was just wondering." Hermione whispered. The pair sat in silence, waiting for more information from Dumbledore.

McGonagall was pacing back and forth in Dumbledore's office. She had alerted the other heads of houses and ordered them to not wake the students for it would worry them and cause too much noise. All the portraits guarding the common rooms were instructed not to let anyone pass by them and enter the common rooms and dormitories.

"Have Miss. Granger and Mr. Malfoy met up yet?" asked McGonagall still pacing around the office.

"It appears so." Dumbledore replied checking the map of the castle he'd enchanted to show the location of each student and staff member in the castle. He pointed at the names Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy on the map. He was looking at the corridors surrounding the bathroom and discovered an unnamed figure on the map.

"I must send them a patronus quickly! The attacker is near their hiding location."

"Miss. Granger and Mr. Malfoy." spoke the patronus. "The attacker is a few corridors away from you. You must find a hiding spot quickly else you could be found. Send me a patronus when you've reached safety." Dumbledore's voice spoke with urgency.

"What do we do" Hermione asked panicked.

"The chamber of secrets!" Draco responded with a wave of realization.

"Of course! Quickly!" Hermione shouted and reached for Malfoy's arm but he pulled it away. Hermione let a brief expression of hurt show on her face but recovered and ran over to the sink that Ron and Harry had used to enter the chamber.

"Do you speak parseltongue?" asked Draco.

"I expected that you would because of all the death eaters you know." Hermione seethed. "But I know that how to get in. Harry taught me." Hermione bragged. She was really nervous that it wouldn't work. She wasn't a parselmouth. She could only intimidate the sound that Harry told her meant open. Hermione began to make a series of low hissing noises and after a few tries, the sink sunk down and reveled a large pipe, large enough for a man to fit through.

"Ladies first, Malfoy." ordered Hermione. He shot an evil glare at her and slide down the cold slimy pipe with Hermione right behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Draco landed with a hard fall on the cold stone ground. He'd never been down to the Chamber of Secrets but knew that the passage was in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom because of the debacle that happened during his second year. Granger had never been down here either because she was petrified while Potter and Weasely "saved the day again" during their second year. Draco's thoughts were interrupted by Granger landing on top of him to break her fall. She stood up immediately, not wanting to be any closer to Malfoy then she had to.

"Do you want to cast the patronus to send to Dumbledore or should I?" Hermione asked Malfoy bitterly.

"I can't cast a patronus charm. They don't teach it in school so I wouldn't expect that you could cast one either." Draco stated with certainty.

"Actually I can." bragged Hermione. She thought of her happy memory that she always uses when casting a patronus. She let her mind drift back to her memory of Harry, Ron and herself sitting in the Three Broomsticks, drinking warm butterbeer and laughing for hours. Letting the memory take over, Hermione screamed "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" with as much force as she could muster. Her patronus began to take the shape of a misty white otter. It danced around her while she spoke out the message to Professor Dumbledore.

"Professor, Malfoy and I have hidden ourselves in the Chamber of Secrets temporarily. We will wait about thirty minutes before we come out of hiding. Please keep us updated if any new information occurs." Hermione spoke while making direct eye contact at Malfoy. He was standing with his mouth open, looking dumbfounded at Hermione. It was obvious that he thought that she had no idea how to cast a patronus. The shimmery white otter disappeared up the drain pipe and headed towards the headmaster's office.

Harry and Ron sat on the couches in the Gryffindor common room, warming themselves by the fire. The air was particularly chilly that evening at quidditch practice. They were sitting across from each other discussing the Gryffindor team's strategy for winning the quidditch match against Ravenclaw this weekend.

"Hey, did you hear from Hermione at all today? She said she'd have our potions essays revised by ten o'clock at the latest." Ron asked.

"No, I haven't seen her since we gave her the essays in the library. I'll go get the Marauder's Map. Maybe she's still working on them in the library. We can use the invisibility cloak to go see her and keep her company." Harry suggested. He ran upstairs to the boy's dormitories and grabbed the map and the cloak from the bottom of his trunk. He ran surprisingly fast for someone who'd had a long and intense quidditch practice. He set the map on the table between him and Ron and they both began to search for Hermione's name on the map.

"There!" Ron exclaimed. "She's in the Chamber of Secrets? WITH MALFOY?!" Ron thundered.

"Ron calm down." Harry whispered in as soothing a voice as possible.

"No Harry. I won't calm down! Hermione's in trouble! She would never be alone with the ferret. Especially in the Chamber of Secrets. I knew he was a Parselmouth. He comes from a long line of dark wizards!" Ron said, fuming with rage.

"Okay Ron. We'll put on the cloak and go to Myrtle's bathroom and see what's going on." Harry proposed. He was trying to maintain a calm attitude for Ron's sake, but he really was worried about Hermione. She was like a sister to him and couldn't imagine anything happening to her. The pair slid under the cloak. It was a lot roomier without Hermione there. As they we're about to leave, the fat lady in her portrait started to speak.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked the Fat Lady. Harry looked down and realized that Ron's feet we're showing. Ron must have forgotten. It was usually Hermione that reminded the boys of these things.

"Um…nowhere." Ron lied.

"Very well. I don't really have too big of an interest in where you're off to at this hour. However, I must warn you that once you leave, I cannot let you back in to the Gryffindor common room." The Fat Lady explained.

"Why?" asked Ron.

"I'm afraid that I cannot say." spoke the Fat Lady in a sympathetic tone.

"Alright then. I'm still going." Ron insisted. He crouched down to cover his feet, and he and Harry headed towards Myrtle's bathroom.

"There! Thirty minutes exactly!" Granger smirked. Why did she have to be such a know it all? He didn't know if he could bear it much longer. She outsmarted him in almost everything during the past hour that they had been together. It was his turn to show her that she wasn't the only wizard capable of casting spells or solving problems.

"Alright. Now we have to go back up the drain pipe." Hermione trembled. She was slightly scared that they weren't going to get out because she couldn't think of a solution to the problem. Draco enjoyed watching her struggle.

"Wow good observation Granger! I can see why they call you the brightest witch of our age!" Draco spoke with complete sarcasm and the classic Malfoy smirk spread across his face.

"Lumos!" casted Hermione. A bright white light shot out of the tip of her wand. It lit up the area around her.

"I'll go look for something to help us get up the pipe." Hermione offered.

"Or you can wait in the corner while I get us up the pipe." Draco dictated. Hermione, excited to see Malfoy try to come up with a better idea than hers, sat in the corner, watching Malfoy with a teasing look in her eyes.

Draco already had a plan for how he was going to escape and was thinking about leaving Granger down here to figure out how to escape herself. But if he came out of the chamber alone, everyone would think that he had killed or injured Granger in some way, so he decided to make his plan work for two.

"Accio broomsticks!" Draco bellowed. Putting all his concentration into his spell, he was almost certain that he would get the end result that he wanted. About 30 seconds later, two broom sticks came shooting down the pipe and landed swiftly on the floor beside him. Hermione sat in shock. She had not expected Malfoy to be able to cast such a difficult summoning charm. Charms we're her specialty! She should have thought of that solution. She wouldn't admit it, but she knew that even if she did think of it, she would never be able to summon an object from such a far distance.

"Up!" Draco shouted as he mounted his broomstick. Hermione watched as he handled his broomstick with such ease.

"You coming?" Draco snapped.

"I can't fly. I don't know how and it frightens me just a little." Hermione admitted quietly. She looked at her feet, embarrassed that Malfoy saw her weak point. Draco rolled his eyes.

"You'll have to ride with me then." Draco spoke, surprisingly without any hint of annoyance. Hermione walked over to Malfoy on his broom and mounted the broom behind him. She wrapped her hand around his torso to steady herself. His stomach was hard and muscular. She could feel the outline of his abs through his robes. She became slightly calmer when she felt how steady Malfoy was. He wasn't nervous at all, unlike Hermione who was terrified of flying.

"Are you ready?" asked Malfoy.

"Yes. And Draco I wanted to apologize to you." Hermione whispered softly. Draco turned around and looked at her in surprise, partially because she was apologizing and partially because she called him by his first name. "I'm sorry I underestimated you. You are completely capable of successfully casting spells like I am and I'm sorry I thought less of you." Hermione apologized, looking at Draco for the first time since admitting her fear.

"You are forgiven. I should apologize as well. I underestimated you just like you did to me." Draco admitted. "Are you ready now, Hermione?" Draco asked. It felt strange saying her first name. It was so unfamiliar. It almost felt as though his tongue wasn't his own. Hermione nodded and Draco led the broom up through the dark and slimy drain pipe. They flew in silence, both thinking about how they had said each other's first names for the first time. Even though they weren't friends, they respected each other a little bit more now and never went back to calling each other by their last names again.

Harry and Ron came bursting into Myrtle's bathroom. Hermione or Malfoy were nowhere to be seen.

"Where could they-" Ron began but was interrupted by the loud swoosh of a broomstick flying out of the drain pipe that lead to the Chamber of Secrets. And if Ron wasn't surprised enough, he was absolutely shocked when he saw Hermione and the ferret riding on the same broomstick together, with her hands on his waist.

"Harry! Ron! Let me explain!" Hermione cried.

"No Hermione! I don't need an explanation. I can clearly see what's going on here! How could you betray Harry and I like this?!" Ron seethed.

"Shut up Weasel! Give her a chance to explain" demanded Draco.

"Honestly Ron. Here her out." agreed Harry.

"There is an attacker in the castle. I was in the library revising your essays when I received a patronus from Dumbledore saying that an attacker has entered the castle. He told me that the only other student that was out past curfew was Draco. He told me to meet Draco in Myrtle's bathroom so I did. We received another patronus that said that the attacker was near us. We hid in the Chamber of Secrets for thirty minutes before Draco summoned a broomstick and flew us out." Hermione explained. "What are you two doing here?" asked Hermione.

"Well we were in the common room talking after quidditch practice." Harry began.

"The practice that you stole from Slytherin let me add." Draco retorted.

Harry shot a glare at Malfoy and continued. "We were getting concerned because you hadn't come to give us our essays so we checked the map and saw that you were here with Malfoy and came down here immediately. The Fat Lady told us she couldn't let us in after we left and now we know why."

"Wait! Students aren't allowed back into they're common rooms?!" Draco asked looking highly concerned.

"Nope" replied Harry. Draco and Hermione finally dismounted the broom and tried to process the information that now there were four students who couldn't get to safety.

"So who's the attacker?" asked Hermione, looking directly at Harry. He opened the map and began looking for a name that didn't belong and his eyes stopped when he came across a pair of footsteps named Narcissa Malfoy.


	4. Chapter 4

"What?! No! Not my mother! She would never!" Draco cried. His mother wasn't like this. His father was the evil one. Narcissa was only involved with the Death Eaters because Lucius had forced Narcissa and Draco into it. Draco started running towards the door of Myrtle's bathroom but stopped when he felt a firm grip on his arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hermione asked with a look of concern on her face.

"I'm going to see my mother. She would never do this. There has to be an explanation." Draco stammered.

"No Draco. You're not going anywhere. I won't let you." Hermione insisted. They're eyes met and Hermione held Draco's gaze for what seemed like five minutes but was only a few seconds. Warm chocolate brown eyes met icy grey ones. It appeared as though they were having a whole conversation with just their eyes. Hermione was trying to convince Draco to stay and after a few seconds of resistance, the pleading in Hermione's got him to agree.

"Fine. I'll stay." Draco groaned. Hermione smiled with a wave of relief.

"What do we do now?" asked Ron.

"We do what we've been doing for the past hour. We wait for more instructions from Dumbledore." answered Hermione. The four students sat in a circle in the bathroom, watching Narcissa Malfoy's footsteps on the map move around the castle. Draco was still breathing heavily out of concern.

"Narcissa. Always a pleasure." greeted Dumbledore.

"Likewise. Thank you for answering my letter. I have some information on who the attacker is." responded Narcissa.

"Absolutely. Who is the attacker?" asked Dumbledore.

"First, I must make it clear that my son is in no way involved with this. Lucius has always been the one that was involved with the dark side. I was sort of dragged into it after the marriage and Draco has always been expected to follow in his father's footsteps and become the Dark Lords right hand man. But between you and me, I don't want that for him. I want a bright future for him and the dark side is certainly not a bright future." explained Narcissa.

"Of course. I can tell that Draco is capable of so much more than being a Death Eater. He has the second highest marks in his year and even though he is closed off and likes to act as though he has no feelings, once he opens up to someone, he'll be so much more powerful. I take interest in all of my students at Hogwarts, but I've taken a particular interest in Draco. Don't worry Narcissa, you can trust me." Dumbledore reassured.

"Aright then, as far as I know, the attacker is my sister, Bellatrix." Narcissa reveled without a hint of doubt.

"Mr. Malfoy, it has come to my attention that Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley have joined you. I would have told you who the attacker is sooner but my map only sees the people that are supposed to be in the school, like students and professors. You are not to worry. Your mother is not the attacker. Bellatrix Lestrange is the-" The patronus disappeared without finishing it's message.

"That is strange. Dumbledore must be in trouble. Harry! Check the map!" Ron spoke with urgency. Harry unfolded his map and spotted the pair of footsteps with Dumbledore's name under them. He was in his office with McGonagall and Bellatrix. Harry's face fell.

"I know this is a grave situation but this gives us an opportunity to escape! With the Bellatrix nowhere near here, we can fins somewhere else to go." Hermione suggested. Harry didn't seem to hear her though. He and Dumbledore had always had a special bond that he didn't have with any other student. Harry looked him like a father figure.

"Come one Harry! We have to go!" Ron bellowed as he snatched the map from Harry's grasp and grabbed his arm. Ron practically dragged Harry out of the bathroom.

"Where should we go?" asked Hermione.

"I say that we go by the entrance to the common rooms for each house to see if any of them will let us in, even though I doubted it." Draco suggested.

"Okay, that sounds like a solid plan." Hermione agreed. They began walking towards the Ravenclaw common room as quietly as they could. Harry had finally snapped out of shock and was determined to save everyone he could. That was a natural instinct for Harry. Hermione noticed it over the years full of dangerous situations. She also noticed that when there were people that couldn't be saved and had to die, he blamed it on himself, even if there was nothing he could do about it. Just Hermione was thinking about this, they reached the corridor with the Ravenclaw common room and saw a body on the floor. Hermione's face went grave as she saw Harry run over to the body to see who it was. Hermione didn't have to move any closer to see who the body was. She already knew and she watched Harry stare blankly at Cho Chang's lifeless body on the ground.

"Bellatrix?!" Narcissa shouted with surprise.

"Why hello Cissy! So nice to see you betraying me to my enemy's. I couldn't have asked for a better sister." Bellatrix spat. McGonagall was in the corner of the room casting her patronus, telling the other heads of houses to evacuate all the students.

"Do you think I want to kill you? Because I would love to kill you. But I won't." Bellatrix said hysterically. "Cissy, you locked confused. I'm not going to kill you because I want you to watch your son die and your school fall apart." Bellatrix laughed.

"Expelliarmus!" casted Bellatrix as Dumbledore, Narcissa and McGonagall's wands came flying at her.

"Crucio!" Bellatrix screamed as her sister started cringing in intense pain. She walked over to the door and casted colloportus on the door, locking it so that no spell could unlock it.

"Being a Death Eater has its perks" Bellatrix sneered and left the room.

"The battle claims its first victim." Harry grieved. He tucked a lock of Cho's hair behind her ear and closed her eyes. Draco began walking towards the portrait guarding the Ravenclaw common room when everyone stopped what they were doing suddenly.

"Avada Kedavra!" a voice shouted from a few corridors over. Ron pulled the map out of his pocket and showed the group that Bellatrix was still near Dumbledore's office. The voice belonged to a man anyways. This meant only one thing. There is more than one attacker in the castle. Hermione and Draco realized this at the exact time and began running as fast as they could from the corridor, hand in hand.


End file.
